Spaghetti with Asparagus, Peas and Mushrooms

Simple recipe this one, but so tasty...

Ingredients (serves 4)

1-2 bunches of asparagus (the thinner the better)

a few mushrooms (chopped)

some peas

2-3 spring onions, chopped

chilli flakes

olive oil

butter

white wine

salt

500gr spaghetti

Wash the asparagus and cut off the harder part of the stem if it feels too hard to cook. Alternatively you can slice the harder part right through the middle. Cut the asparagus in pieces of roughly 2cm each (that's less than an inch you imperials).

In a frying pan, heat some olive oil and toss in the asparagus. Add butter, peas, spring onions and chilli flakes. Cook for 4-5 minutes, drizzle some white wine, add the mushrooms and salt. Turn the heat down and cover, allowing it to cook gently for another 5 minutes or so. In the meantime...

In a saucepan add water, salt and bring to the boil. Add your spaghetti and cook for as long as you like-preferably the time advised on the pack.

Drain the pasta, return it to the saucepan and tip your asparagus sauce in. Mix gently and serve with some nice parmesan cheese. I use mature anari, a Cypriot cheese. Drink the rest of the wine with it :-)

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Pizza!

The recipe for the base came from my friend Federica (of squash risotto fame).

For the base (serves 2):

250 gr plain flour

130 ml lukewarm water

oregano

1 sachet of yeast

1-2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp olive oil

salt

For the topping:

mozzarella cheese

passata tomato sauce

anchovies

olives, pitted and halved

OR

mushrooms (I precook these in some butter)

artichokes

OR

whatever you fancy on your pizza

(You can make double or triple the dough simply by multiplying the ingredients, except the yeast. One sachet should be enough for up to 1kg of flour I think...)

Add the yeast and sugar to the water, stir well and allow to rise for about 15 minutes. Run the flour through a sieve to avoid having any clumps. Add the frothed-up water/yeast to the flour, add the salt and olive oil and knead knead knead. Add more flour if you need to make it more workable. I also like adding oregano to my dough, it gives it a nice flavour.

Knead well and allow the dough to rise in a dark and warm place (I usually put it in the oven-oven off of course) for about 30 minutes. In the meantime prepare your toppings and have some more flour handy. Prepare a hard surface such as a table or a large chopping board for making your base. Spread some flour on the table and cut a sizeable chunk of dough. Shape it with your hands to a small, round shape. Using a rolling pin spread the dough out until you're happy with the size and thickness. I like mine not too thick, about 5mm maximum, thick enough to be a bit bready, thin enough to cook well.

Spread some of your passata* on the base. Add your toppings but don't overdo it. Less is more. If you put too much on top the dough won't cook well, especially in the middle. Put some slices of mozzarella around the top. Put your pizza in a preheated oven for 20 minutes and bingo. Not only very easy but considerably more tasty than any crap you'll get elsewhere. Try playing with different toppings.

*If you have no passata you can dilute some tomato paste with water, but don't make it too watery, just smooth enough to spread. Federica would kill me :-)

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